(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more The meeting between the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and
the Head of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Nechirvan Barzani in
Munich in February 2023, and the visit of Barzani to Baku in July
2023 strengthens further bilateral ties between two nations -
Azerbaijanis and Kurds, which dates back thousands of years. It is
worth noting that Kurds are one of the active minority groups in
multi-ethnic Azerbaijan and they have played active roles in
statehood building in the country. They have been broadly
represented in Azerbaijan's state from art to politics.
Moreover, Azerbaijan always has a warm attitude toward Kurds and
they have never felt any discrimination against themselves in
Azerbaijan like other ethnic minorities. It should be mentioned
that when tens of thousands of Muslim Kurds, together with
Azerbaijanis were forcibly deported from Armenia where they had
lived for thousands of years, Azerbaijan did not discriminate and
embraced Kurds as well as Azerbaijanis. Besides, like Azerbaijanis,
thousands of Kurds were subjected to ethnic cleansing in Karabakh
conducted by Armenia, and those Kurds also found shelter in
Azerbaijan. As for 30,000 Yezidi Kurds who were not dispelled are
subjected to discrimination in Armenia. Gunning down the Yezidi
funeral ceremony in Armenia in August 2017, and the arrest of a
Yezidi human rights activist Sashik Sultanyan, are some of the
examples of oppression that Yezidi Kurds encounter.
Keeping the historical bilateral ties in mind, the two meetings
held in 2023 foreshadow the entering a new level. Strengthening
relations between Azerbaijan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq has
security and economic foundations.
From security point of view, Iraqi Kurdistan and Azerbaijan have
the same enemies, more precisely Armenia and Iran. As is known,
Armenian expansionist foreign policy is not limited only to
Azerbaijan. It considers roughly all territories where Kurds live
as Armenian territory. According to the Armenian claims, Urartu was
the first 'Armenian kingdom', where the modern Iraqi Kurdistan is
located. In other words, Kurds are supposed by Armenians so-called
occupants in "historical hay lands". It also explains the reason of
Armenian hatred against Kurds.
As for Iran, it is totally different story. Kurds are the third
biggest minority groups after Azerbaijanis in Iran. As is known, no
ethnic groups including Persians made up 50 percent of the Iranian
population, but Azerbaijanis and Kurds together constitute over 45
percent of the population. So, Iran considers Kurds, like
Azerbaijanis as a danger posed against its security. Therefore, the
Mullah regime implements the same aggressive foreign policy against
Azerbaijan as against Kurdistan. Propping up Christian Armenian
terrorist groups against Muslim Kurds in Syria exemplifies our
words. It should be mentioned that Iran repeats the same policy in
the South Caucasus, more precisely, mullahcracy supports Christian
Armenians against Shia segment in Azerbaijan. Besides, 70,000
Iranian Armenians have schools, but neither 35 million Iranian
Azerbaijanis, nor 7 million Iranian Kurds have schools in Iran.
In terms of economy, Iraqi Kurdistan and Azerbaijan have great
potential. Despite, Azerbaijan and Iraq are not bordered, but the
two countries have several leverages to help boost the economy of
each other. Iraq can deliver its natural gas to the European market
through the TANAP project. By the way, Azerbaijan is interested in
it, and even Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry had invited Iraq to join
the planned Trans-Anatolia natural gas pipeline in 2014.
On the other hand, Iraq could be the second route to the Arabian
Gulf for Azerbaijan. Especially, after opening the Zangazur
corridor this route can gather momentum.
It will pave the way to the prosperity of the region and Russia,
the Central Asian countries could use the route as well. It is
another reason that Iran opposes the corridor and goes the extra
mile to destabilize Iraq, because the regime in Tehran does not
want to lose its privilege, and leverage over other countries.
Kurdistan is the most stable and dynamic region in Iraq and it
could be a favorable market for Azerbaijan's growing non-resource
industry. So, the region attaches importance to Azerbaijan and we
could expect development in bilateral relations.
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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow him on
Twitter: @g_ashirov